Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to docking connectors for mobile electronic devices. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to docking connectors disposed on a largest-surface-area surface of the electronic devices.
Discussion of Related Art
Mobile electronic devices often comprise docking connectors, which enable the mobile electronic devices to temporarily attach to multiple external docking accessories, such as speakers and batteries, generally further enabling power and data transmission between the mobile electronic device and the docking accessories. Docking connectors are generally housed on one of the edges of the mobile electronic device, as opposed to one of the two major faces of a typical mobile electronic device, wherein the front face is generally designated by the location of a screen, should the device house a screen, and the back face is designated as the face opposite the front face. For example, the smartphone shown in FIG. 1A (Prior Art) has two major faces and four relatively narrow edges, with a docking connector housed on the bottom edge. A shortfall of housing a docking connector on the edge of a mobile electronic device is that when the device is attached to docking accessories, the resultant system is generally inconvenient for transport. If the docking accessories attach by a flexible cable to the docking connector as shown in FIG. 1A, the resultant system comprises two or more independently moving bodies, connected by the flexible cable, and is thus inconvenient for transport. If the docking accessories attach in a rigid fashion to the docking connector, the resultant system generally increases the effective magnitude of at least one of the dimensions of the mobile electronic device to a degree that renders the resultant system inconvenient for transport. This is due to the fact that the edges of mobile electronic devices generally have a relatively small surface area compared to the front and back faces of the devices; thus, to accommodate the volume of a docking accessory that is rigidly attached to such an edge, the resultant system generally extends significantly in directions away from the docking connector edge. See for example FIG. 1B (Prior Art).
To address the preceding docking-system transport problem, some docking accessories, such as certain supplemental batteries, are manufactured as parts of mobile electronic device cases. The resultant “docking cases” attach to mobile electronic devices, both at their docking connectors (as standard docking accessories attach) and around their various edges (as standard mobile electronic device cases attach), to enable the docking accessories to be transported securely against the back faces of the mobile electronic devices. See for example FIG. 1C (Prior Art). In a similar vein, some docking accessories are manufactured as parts of docking “sleeves” (or “jackets”), which attach to compatible mobile electronic devices at their side edges and at their docking connectors (some docking sleeves are themselves operable to form detachable attachments to independent docking accessories). See for example FIG. 1D (Prior Art). Docking cases and sleeves enable the majority of the volume of docking accessories to be distributed in a generally even manner across the relatively large back faces of mobile electronic devices, with the aim of minimizing effective increases in magnitude to any single dimension of the mobile electronic device and thus enabling the resultant systems to be transported in a convenient fashion. While going some way to mitigate the increase in effective size of mobile electronic devices to which docking cases and sleeves are attached, the main shortfall with this method for addressing the docking-system transport problem is that docking cases and sleeves nevertheless can increase the effective size of the corresponding mobile electronic device, both in the dimension perpendicular to the back face of the mobile electronic device and in the dimension perpendicular to the face of the edge that houses the docking connector.
A second method for addressing the docking-system transport problem is to (i) recess a portion of a selected edge of a mobile electronic device to form a rectangular cavity that is open both at the selected edge and at the backside of the mobile electronic device; (ii) form a docking connector on the recessed edge; and (iii) form rails (or tracks) on the two cavity edges perpendicular to the recessed edge. See for example FIG. 1E (Prior Art). The rails serve to guide docking accessories as they are inserted into the rectangular cavity through the opening on the selected edge and to help fix the positions of the docking accessories when they are in their docked states. The rectangular cavity enables docking accessories to attach to the mobile electronic device without increasing its effective carrying size. For certain designs, the initial formation of the cavity may lead to an increase in the initial carrying size of the mobile device by taking up space that could otherwise be used for internal components of the device; still, the cavity enables docking accessories to attach to the device without further increasing its effective carrying size and without altering its overall contour. This method thus avoids the main shortfall with the preceding method. Nevertheless, it has several shortfalls of its own. One shortfall with this method is that its rail system requires the corresponding accessory cavity to be open at one edge of the mobile device. This is disadvantageous, as edge openings reduce available space for mobile-device features that are ideally located on an edge of the device (for instance, volume buttons, power buttons, built-in speakers, and built-in sensors) and, if the selected edge is tapered, as is common to create the perception that the device is only as thick as its outermost edges, the tapered boundary of the corresponding accessory cavity places adverse constraints on the design of compatible docking accessories. Another shortfall with this method is that, by fixing the positions of the outer edges of attached accessories through its rail system, it presents design obstacles for a broad range of accessories whose functionality improves with the ability to expand away from, and rotate at various angles to, the backsides of the mobile electronic devices to which they are attached (for instance, speakers, electrophysiology sensors, massage paddles, hand-pump chargers, and ultrasound transducers). Another shortfall with this method is that accessories whose attachment does not increase the effective carrying size of the mobile device must have a certain rectangular shape and size to mate with the rail system (and those accessories that protrude beyond the boundaries of the rectangular cavity must have a base of a certain rectangular shape and size to mate with the rail system). Different docking accessories have different ideal shapes and sizes, however. For instance, whereas certain camera lenses, speakers, and electrophysiology sensors might ideally be circular and relatively small, certain game controllers, external keyboards, and solar panels might ideally be elongated and relatively large.
What is needed is a docking platform that is housed on the back face of a mobile electronic device to enable multiple docking accessories of various shapes and sizes to simultaneously and independently attach to the mobile electronic device with the optional freedom to expand away from, and rotate at various angles to, the back face of the mobile device, and with at most a nominal increase to the effective magnitude of any one dimension of the mobile device. Furthermore, the docking platform should not require openings on the edges of the mobile device.